Tag Archives: Antinomianism

During the scandals of the 80’s with Bakker and Swaggert, one prominent minister stated it was ok for a pastor to commit immorality on Sunday morning yet be back in the pulpit on Sunday night. Seems Creflo Dollar may have been mentored by the same antinomian belief.

According to Dollar, Eddie Long is neither accountable to the public he has been preaching to, nor should he have to transparently explain why he paid hush money to silence his four accusers under the cover of closed-door proceedings.

Creflo told his congregation:

“That preacher’s still anointed to do what he was called to. He just had a wreck. The blood will take care of his issue just like it will take care of yours,” Dollar stated. “And I just can’t believe that people would leave their preacher because he had a wreck, instead of praying for him.”

As you can see, Dollar ignorantly and arrogantly dismisses concern with Longs lack of character and private homosexual relationships by declaring that the anointing is God’s panacea for flagrant lawlessness. In other words, anointing trumps lack of character.

Where is that in Timothy or Titus?

I submit that both Eddie long and Creflo Dollar may be guilty of what Christ warned his church about in the book of Jude:

“For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.” [Jude 4]

J. Lee Grady said it best concerning Eddie Long and deceptive ministers:

“People who talk out of both sides of their mouths certainly cannot preach an uncompromised gospel. And liars cannot be trusted to give us the truth.”

Eddie Long and Randy White are guilty of biblical anarchy and behavioral Antinomianism. Peter clearly commands,”If you suffer public humiliation as a Christian , it must not be because you are a…criminal. [1 Peter 4:15[

Randy White was just busted for DUI and Eddie Long ponied up an undisclosed amount in a secret financial settlement to cover up homosexual activity with at least four other men. The settlement keeps the testimony out of the public arena. Wonder what happened to “the David fighting Goliath declaration?” Mere idle words to buy time to keep the crowds and the money coming in till he could run for legal cover. Snakes are known to do that you know.

Both Men were personally confronted long before these recent acts of criminal corruption and should be viewed as completely disqualified from ministerial office as public representatives of Christ.

Through the Apostle Paul, Christ himself prescribed the life long qualifying standards for representatives of his throne in ministerial service:

“Now the overseer must be above reproach, self-controlled, respectable, not a drunkard and he must have a good reputation with those outsider the Christian faith so that he does not fall into disgrace”.

Oh well, unprincipled mercy is sure to win the day again as the ignorant and unprincipled rush in to sustain, support, and promote the Antinomians.

“This ministry is a ministry of restoration. This ministry does not compromise the principles of God, but we are the perfect church for people who are not,” she said, according to a transcript posted on the church’s website.

“That doesn’t mean I am an enabler. That doesn’t mean I condone. That doesn’t mean I agree with things. It means that I will help you walk through life. And I want you to walk with me through life. And I think that’s what the church is all about.”

Translation? I will condone,enable, and basically do whatever it takes as long as you people attend and “show me the money!”

Contrary to popular opinion, the opposite of law is not grace. The opposite of law is lawlessness! Antinomianism [anti-obligation to commandments] is promoted by ministers and christians who believe, teach, and advocate an obligation-free version of the Christian faith.

This in spite of the new testaments 800 themes of grace-based obligation divinely set forth in the new testament.

Jesus himself said,”If you love me, keep my commandments! [plural] The book of James alone contains some 50 commandments for the N.T. believer.

Micheal Horton addresses the problem and the cure for antinomianism. What he says is an absolute “Selah” statement. So please stop, ponder and contemplate the truthfulness of it’s truth!

For those who advocate an “obligation free” christian faith, do so by redefining the meaning of grace and refusing to believe Paul’s gospel!

Here’ why.

“Michael Horton“What’s striking is that Paul answers antinomianism not with the law but with more gospel! In other words, antinomians are not people who believe the gospel too much, but too little! They restrict the power of the gospel to the problem of sin’s guilt, while Paul tells us that the gospel is the power for sanctification as well as justification.”

Those who wear th badge of honor by saying they promote an “obligation free” gospel, actually do so by employing biblical terminology, but actually redefine the terms by forcing the words to mean something completely opposite of what the original author intended.

Check this out. Paul the Apostle declares that his letter to the Romans is a presentation of the gospel that he preaches. So lets look at Romans chapter 6 since it is the best example of how the antinomians put religious spin on “under grace” [nothing we do]…” not law” [no obligation to live by commandments]

Paul’s Obligation text: Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.

Paul’s argument for obligating? For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.

Notice the contextual flow of Paul’s Gospel argument. It is just the opposite of the Antinomian. Grace is the “operative” reason for believers being obliagted to his imperatives. Sin is transgression of the law and since we are under grace,rather than law, Paul argues that enabling grace means being commandment keeping rather than law breakers.

The point Paul makes is that the old covenant law was powerless to effect the obligation that it imposed upon God’s people. However, the Spirit of New Covenant grace enfuses every true christ follower with divine strength [grace] to obey the commanding obligation scripture imposes. Shout!

To use Paul’s own theological terms , there is no such thing as “justification by grace” that doesn’t effect commensurate “sanctifications obedience to biblical obligations. To preach otherwise, is minimally ignorance and maximally heresy!

So the issue is exactly that which Micheal Horton points out. The Antinomians guilt is that he refuses to believe the true Gospel that Paul preached and is simply content to preach another more accomadating one! Perverting grace into lawlessness.

Like this:

Antagoniz Blog Button

About Richard Hanner

The husband of Regina, the father of Amanda, the grandfather of Andrew, Anna and Aaron, a church planter who now has the honor of serving some of the Kingdom’s finest Christ Followers in LaGrange, Georgia. [more]

Email Subscription

Enter your email address to subscribe to Antagoniz and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 1,436 other followers

About This Site

“ANTAGONIZ” is a term derived from the greek word group translated “Contend” in Jude 3. It reflects strenuous effort put forth in the struggle to maintain guardianship of the Historic-Apostolic Gospel that’s been delivered once and for all to the stewardship of the Church. [more]

Recommended Sites

Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.